Vaginal Gas and Fistula

[Bette66]

I know that this sounds gross but if any of you out there have had this problem you know how embarrassing it can be.  I was told that I had a possible fistula between my colon and vagina. I went in for a test and my gyn inserted some blue dye into my rectum then a tampon in my vagina. I left the office and came back in 1 hour. She took out the tampon and there was no blue dye. So she said no fistula between the colon and vagina. So I went home and went to the bathroom. Well there was blue dye in my urine. So I went back into the office where they drew some urine with a catherer. There was blue tint to it. So she said that it was between my colon and bladder. So I went to the Cleveland Clinic and was checked and they could not find anything. They even did a coloscopy. I might mention that I had a hysterectomy 10 years ago and my bowel was snipped, but my problem did not start until about 5 years ago.
I don't know what my next step should be. It occurs out of the blue and I have no control over it. If I am sitting up in bed and have gas it is clearly coming from both ends. You know if you have regular gas you would at least have time to walk out of the room, but with this you don't. I want to hide from the world.
Please help me and guide me as what to do next. I am totally at a loss.
Thank you

[Nana927]

Thankfully, shortly after this started to be a problem for me, I was laid off from my office position.  I think I would have ended up quitting due to embarrassment eventually.  Now I'm seeing a gastro dr and my gyne and have had MRI's to check for fistula.  Nothing showing up so now they want to do a dye study to see if anything leaks from colon to vagina.  I'm just about ready to only go out to noisy places and stop going to doctors.  
I'm so happy to see that other people have this because my drs looked at me like I had two heads when I mentioned it!

[Valad76]

I too am so thankful to have found this website. I am 38, have had 3 vaginal births and I'm 12 weeks pregnant with my 4th child. I noticed this condition just after I fell pregnant and for me it seems to happen when I am extremely gassy and try to hold in a rectal fart, it then escapes in a 'bubbly' sounding fashion from my vagina. Unfortunately it does have an odour and is uncontrollable and extremely embarrassing. I have been to my GP who said I didn't have a rectal fistula however due to the nature of when mine occur I am inclined to think I must have a small one. I'm going to try the home test of putting a tampon in my vagina and a coloured food dye up the back passage and see if there is any leakage. Another thing i will do is keep a food diary To see what foods are triggering excessive gass. It's very distressing and I can't believe after 10 years of women posting on this site that there are still no conclusive answers. Will post my home test results as they come to hand.

[Sunny8101]

Have you figured anything out yet?  Sounds like it's so unpredictable.  I'm having more issues rectally, but I have had a couple of instances where it started rectally and kind of radiated to the vaginal area like air bubbles.  I'm terrified it will happen in public!!  I NEVER used to fart much less vart very often at all.  I'm so perplexed.

[Mdmcocoa]

thanks ladies so much for the post.  I feel somewhat comfortable that I am not alone and it is not something that I did.  I do not like saying excuse me, b/cuz I did nothing.  I just don't know what to say.  I will continue to pray and ask God to guide me.  I do thank God that He has already made provisions for this situation.

[Mdmcocoa]

I am so with Betty on this.  No sex, no pain, no warning. Sitting...when I stand it goes off.  If I bend over and stand up straight, it goes off.  Shoulder stand in yoga, when I come back down, it goes off.  Although, when I do a shoulder stand, I do feel (not painful at all) air pressure like light gas in my vagina, so I do not do that pose.  It does not hurt at all, I just cant control it and the sound is loud and I do not know how long it will last.  I also try not to stand up too quickly, not that It would stop it, but....

[Mdmcocoa]

wow...me too.  When I realized that it was a problem, I mentioned it to my gyn and she too looked at me like I was crazy.  So I just thought it would go away the way it came.  It stopped for a few years, then just recently when I was on a new job, my boss called me over.  I bent over so he could whisper something in my ear, when I stood up to walk away, the noise/gas bubbles just went  off.  He slipped and said "what da *** was"...then he caught his self and I guess he did not want to embarrass me.  I was already embarrassed.  I said nothing, did not know whet to say.  My office is small, very small and quiet.  Lord please help me.